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  by bratja & 1 users

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: on hold

Author: Michael Gerber

Tags: parody

2009-05-25

  by rrmonroe & 3 users

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: to read

Author: Max Brooks

Tags: parody zombies

2006-05-12

  by stanestane & 227 users

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: I recommend

Author: unknown

Tags: communism revolution politics capitalism socialism parody propaganda totalitarian alegory

2006-04-28

  by mahsdad & 6 users

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: now reading

Author: John Hodgman

Tags: history parody audio 2006 dailyshow abridged

Description: In this super-literate, ultimately exhausting exercise in literary parody, New York Times magazineIn this super-literate, ultimately exhausting exercise in literary parody, New York Times magazine contributor Hodgman has produced "a compendium of COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE." From sections titled "What Will Happen in the Future" to "What You Did Not Know About Hobos," he piles up smart-alecky nonsense in layer upon layer of surreal, wholly fictional factoids. Whether highlighting American presidents who had hooks for hands, or sketching out the mythical secrets of Yale University, Hodgman creates a strange and intermittently hilarious parallel universe where lists of history's worst haircuts (in addition to the Mullet, there are the Scrape, the Scab and the Shag-Swoop) are printed alongside descriptions of "famous novels that were not originally published as books." Sprinkled throughout with breathless "factual" interjections—"Were you aware of it? The body of Thomas Edison was never buried. Instead it was displayed for many decades in a traveling carnival.... DOES IT EVEN SEEM POSSIBLE?"—this "almanac" demonstrates Hodgman's formidable imagination, if not his ability to amuse consistently. The individual passages are funny but get lost in an already overstuffed work. For the hyper-well-read fans of publications like McSweeney's, this is a treasure trove of twisted absurdist miscellany. For others, however, it may just be too much of a good thing. ...

2005-11-19

  by mahsdad & 2 users

• Current

Type: fiction

Status: I recommend

Author: Chris Elliot

Tags: humor historical parody 2006 dailyshow

Description: The book debut from the Get a Life and Cabin Boy star is billed as a parody, but this murderThe book debut from the Get a Life and Cabin Boy star is billed as a parody, but this murder mystery wrapped in laughter is simply straight-up enjoyable. Jack the Jolly Thwacker is leaving dead bodies all over 1882 New York City. Chris Elliott, a modern-day researcher, is tracking the serial killer through time. Elliott's wry humor fastens on the burgeoning, Boss Tweedified city, giving it a hilarious and vividly imagined set of anachronistic technologies and accoutrements (New York's Mayor Teddy Roosevelt, who has mysteriously disappeared, has a navel piercing). The narrative leaps back and forth in time, as 1882 police chief Caleb Spencer chases the Thwacker through the streets, and Elliott, convinced the killer is from the 21st century, chases him through time. Elliott's ability to time travel is facilitated by Yoko Ono (don't ask) and a willing suspension of disbelief, but the results are very amusing (if often infantile in the style of There's Something About Mary), with asides on every page that bring in everyone and everything from Typhoid Mary to Skyy Vodka. If Shroud feels like an extended, Americanized Monty Python skit, it's also a rousing good yarn. ...

2005-11-13